Evercore ISI adds Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) to TAP Outperform list

Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Kumar reiterated an In Line rating and $480.00 price target on Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG).

The analyst comments "We are adding ISRG to our Tactical Outperform List (this is not a rating change but a tactical call specific to earnings catalyst) list heading into tomorrow’s earnings print as we are positive on procedures. Below is our rationale: Why now? ISRG shares are down -17% YTD, partly in sympathy to Medtech malaise and partly due to have-nots in Medtech not working. Last week JNJ Beat ST within its Surgical franchise, which is a positive indicator for ISRG’s procedure growth in general. Survey work supports the positive procedure outlook: We saw a clear signal supportive of robotic surgery volumes in our quarterly hospital capex and procedure survey (see Fig 1 below). We asked repeat responders to score procedure categories on 1 to 10 scale (with 10 being highest priority) for 1Q26. As seen below, ISRG ranked #1 while laparoscopic surgery was ranked last. Given that JNJ is a leader in lap surgery and still Beat ST despite lap scoring last, we believe ISRG should do well in 1Q26. We expect a procedure Beat based on JNJ’s results: JNJ report total surgery, advanced surgery and general surgery operation growth. Regression analysis showed that general surgery had the highest R square vs ISRG’s procedures (granted R sq was still low). Based on JNJ’s 1Q results, we est ISRG’s procedure growth to be ~16.5% in 1Q26 (consistent w 4Q), which is ~200 bps above ST (see Fig 2 below). When Ion biopsy procedures are included, we est total growth inclusive of Ion could be >17%. The call: ISRG shares have been range bound between $450-600 for the past 12 months and is currently trading at the low end of this range. Procedure growth is an important metric that the ST focuses on…with a potential for ~200 bps Beat, we expect ISRG shares to be up on 1Q print."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Intuitive Surgical click here. For more ratings news on Intuitive Surgical click here.

Shares of Intuitive Surgical closed at $469.21 yesterday.

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